Back to chilling in the region of food, wine and gelato

Bologna, Italy

Raj: Having left Rome our mood has improved. For the past 3 days we've been back in the countryside just outside Bologna, an area renowned for it's food, wine and gelato. Our apartment is very modern and relaxed, much like our stay in Terricciola (the place before Rome) but again they don't do air con here, just electric fans so it's been very hot sleeping at nights. The manager is very friendly and speaks great english. When we arrived he opened and shared a glass of Lambrusco with us (chilled and slightly aerated red wine). Now that's hospitality. With that positive introduction and after a long drive (and the usual GPS experiences - this time a road closure), we decided to go out for dinner on our first night in the nearby town of Lovoleto. All the meals were magnifico, well priced, and it was a treat to dine out rather than self cater for a change.

Yesterday (after the daily catered breakfast and my usual pig-out) we drove to Maranello, home of Ferrari, where the cars are made and exhibited. We spent a while in the museum checking out the different cars, trophy room and listening to the cars themselves in the interactive sound booth. Cool. Later in the afternoon we drove to Modena and found a huge and popular public pool where we spent the rest of the day swimming in 40 degrees. For a change I wore my board shorts (happy Mingle?) though the ladies were still checking me out (yeah right) - probably because there aren't Indians in Modena unlike Rome!

Today was an even lazier day. We went into Bologna itself and walked around Piazza Maggiore which is the central part of town. We just took in the sights from the outside which was nice. After a couple of hours we were done. We thought we'd find another pool to cool-off in; however an entry fee of NZ$60 (on top of yesterday's exorbitant pool fee) for just a plain pool was too rich for me, and it annoyed me they publicly charged higher prices for tourists. Instead we went to the supermarket and got treats including ice-creams. With extra time on our hands the kids not only lost their swim but were made to do journals, maths and spelling! Poor them but they didn't complain (too much).

Tomorrow we head to Venice, our last stop in Italy, via a stop at a coastal beach (hopefully). Ciao.

Harley: Over the time that we have been in Bologna the best thing that we have done is going to the Ferrari Museum in Maranello. Maranello is also where the Ferrari's are made. You can only go in the factory if you own a Ferrari or you are invited. In the museum there were lots of models of Ferrari's old and new. One Ferrari (250 GTO) was recently sold for NZD60 million!!! There weren't just street cars but also F1 cars. One F1 driver (Michael Schumacher) won the world championship in 1994, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004!!! You could also drive a Ferrari which was 90 euro for 10 minutes but we didn't. I really enjoyed going to the museum and would want to go back again :) Another thing that we did was going to the swimming pool. The pool was very crowded. The deep end was 3.7m deep so we did lots of diving down to the bottom. If you go down too far too fast your ear drums can really hurt which happened to me and my dad

Anouk: Two days ago we drove from Rome to Bologna. Yesterday my favourite and only highlight was going to the Ferrari Museum. Next to it was the Ferrari factory but you had to own a Ferrari to get in so we only went into the museum. We got our tickets first and on them was a really cool picture of a red Ferrari. We saw things like models and real Ferraris, some were racing ones and they only had one seat. Most of the Ferraris were one and two seated. The Ferraris were very very flash and clean. At the end I saw my favourite Ferrari which is the Ferrari Enzo. It was a red one and I thought that it was awesome. I could't believe that it costs 20 million USA dollars to design and make a Ferrari!!! After the museum I also enjoyed going to the pool to freshen up. The pool was 3.7m deep!!! There was about 300 other people swimming so there was hardly any room for me to swim in the little pool which was the only pool that I could stand in.

Mingle
Raj, Togs noted, everyone more comfortable:) So have you all mastered the use of the bidet yet? You do know it's not a drinking fountain aye! I reckon Anouk would look great in her own Enzo, amazing cars. Vikki, that bruise got both Rhonda and I cringing .... Ouch. Now, it's been a while since the last Raj factor, which implies everyone is way too relaxed. Btw, the mighty Chiefs beat the crusaders in a cliff hanger last night. Now hosting Brumbies at home in final next weekend.

Jul 27, 2013

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